POLESHIFTS

Theosophy and Science Contrasted

David Pratt

January 2000

PART 5: APPENDICES

6. Sampson Arnold Mackey

Sampson Arnold Mackey (1765-1843) lived for most of his adult life in Norwich,
where he worked as a shoemaker. He received minimal education, but pursued
his own studies of astronomy, geology, and mythology. He gave lectures on his
theories, and published several books and pamphlets at his own expense. He
was one of the first writers to publicly challenge the biblical dogma that the earth
was no more than about 6000 years old, and argued instead that the earth, and
humanity too, was millions of years old. He was invited to join the Freemasons,
but refused to do so as he wanted to preserve his independence. He died in an
almshouse.
For further information on Mackey's life and work, see BCW 14:545-9, and two
books by Joscelyn Godwin: Arktos: the polar myth in science, symbolism, and
Nazi survival, Phanes Press, 1993, pp. 196-202, and The Theosophical
Enlightenment, State University of New York Press, 1994, pp. 67-76.
Godwin makes the following criticism:

Like many an autodidact, Mackey hurt his case by riding his hobby-horse to
the limit. Every myth or legend he came across seemed to illustrate the
experiences of mankind under the changing conditions of the shifting axis. All
solar myths referred to the apparent behavior of the sun; serpent myths, to the
spiral path of the pole. The different volves of the spiral were always
mythologized as intelligent beings, which explained away all the stories of the
gods and their progeny. All numbers in theogony and myth referred to celestial
mathematics, which Mackey believed to have been fully understood by the priest-
astronomers of antiquity. (The Theosophical Enlightenment, p. 71)

Although Mackey may have overstated his case, H.P. Blavatsky clearly
considered some of his views worthy of quotation. All the passages in Blavatsky's
works which quote from or draw on Mackey's writings are reproduced below, and
the page numbers of the relevant passages in 'Mythological' Astronomy of the
Ancients Demonstrated [MA] are indicated. The relevant passages from MA are
then given. Finally a few additional passages referring to the Dendera zodiacs
are given from several of Mackey's works. (For more on the Dendera zodiacs,
see Appendix 5.)

H.P. Blavatsky

SD 1:654-5

'Christian theologians think it their duty to write against the long periods of Hindu
chronology,' argues very pertinently S.A. Mackey, the Norwich 'philosopher,
astronomer, and shoemaker.' 'But when a man of learning crucifies the names
and numbers of the ancients, and wrings and twists them into a form which
means something quite foreign to the intention of the ancient authors; but which,
so mutilated, fits in with the birth of some maggot pre-existing in his own brain
with so much exactness that he pretends to be amazed at the discovery, I cannot
think him quite so pardonable' (Key of Urania). [MA, Pt. 2, 23-4]
This is intended to apply to Captain (late Colonel) Wilford, but the words may
fit more than one of our modern Orientalists.

SD 2:331

Every sidereal year the tropics recede from the pole four degrees in each
revolution from the equinoctial points, as the equator rounds through the Zodiacal
constellations. Now, as every astronomer knows, at present the tropic is only
twenty-three degrees and a fraction less than half a degree from the equator.
Hence it has still 2 1/2 degrees to run before the end of the Sidereal year; which
gives humanity in general, and our civilized races in particular, a reprieve of
about 16,000 years. [MA, App., 25-6]

See part 3, section 4.

SD 2:332

The Egyptian priests assured Herodotus that the Pole of the Earth and the
Pole of the Ecliptic had formerly coincided [MA, 2]. But, as remarked by the
author of the Sphinxiad [the Sphinxiad is actually a zodiacal drawing in MA],
'These poor benighted Hindoos have registered a knowledge of Astronomy for
ten times 25,000 years since the (last local) Flood (in Asia), or Age of Horror,' in
the latitude of India. [MA, App., 23] And they possess recorded observations
from the date of the first Great Flood within the Aryan historical memory -- that
which submerged the last portions of Atlantis, 850,000 years ago.

SD 2:356

. . . every occultist knows that the Serpent alluded to is the north pole, as also the
pole of the heavens.* The latter produces the seasons according to the angle at
which it penetrates the centre of the earth. [MA, 39]
*Symbolized by the Egyptians under the form of a Serpent with a hawk's
head.

SD 2:357-8

The Egyptians, according to Eusebius, who for once (and for a wonder) wrote the
truth, symbolized kosmos by a large fiery circle, representing a serpent with a
hawk's head lying across its diameter. 'Here we have the pole of the earth within
the plane of the ecliptic, attended with all the fiery consequences that must arise
from such a state of the heavens: when the whole Zodiac in 25,000 (odd) years,
must have reddened with the solar blaze, and each sign must have been vertical
to the polar region.' (see Mackey's 'Sphinxiad'.) [MA, 42]
Meru -- the abode of the gods -- was placed, as before explained, in the North
Pole, while Pâtâla, the nether region, was supposed to lie in the South. As each
symbol in esoteric philosophy has seven keys, geographically, Meru and Pâtâla
have one significance and represent localities; while astronomically, they have
another, and mean 'the two poles,' which meaning ended by their being often
rendered in exoteric sectarianism -- the 'Mountain' and the 'Pit,' or Heaven and
Hell. . . . As the author just quoted half explains, Helion and Acheron meant
nearly the same: 'Heli-on is the Sun in the highest' (Helios, Heli-on, the 'most
high'); 'and Acheron is 32 deg. above the pole, and 32 below it, the allegorical
river being thus supposed to touch the northern horizon in the latitude of 32
degrees. The vast concave, that is for ever hidden from our sight and which
surrounded the southern pole, being therefore called the PIT, while observing,
toward the Northern pole that a certain circuit in the heavens always appeared
above the horizon -- they called it the Mountain. As Meru is the high abode of the
Gods, these were said to ascend and descend periodically; by which
(astronomically) the Zodiacal gods were meant, the passing of the original North
Pole of the Earth to the South Pole of the heaven.' 'In that age,' adds the author
of that curious work, the 'Sphinxiad' and of 'Urania's Key to the Revelations' -- 'at
noon, the ecliptic would be parallel with the meridian, and part of the Zodiac
would descend from the North Pole to the north horizon; crossing the eight coils
of the serpent (eight sidereal years, or over 200,000 solar years), which would
seem like an imaginary ladder with eight staves reaching from the earth up to the
pole, i.e., the throne of Jove. Up this ladder, then, the Gods, i.e., the signs of the
Zodiac, ascended and descended. (Jacob's ladder and the angels) . . . . It is
more than 400,000 years since the Zodiac formed the sides of this ladder.' [MA,
41, 44, 46-7] . . . .
This is an ingenious explanation, even if it is not altogether free from occult
heresy. Yet it is nearer the truth than many of a more scientific and especially
theological character.

SD 2:360

[T]he two figures in white and black stone have existed in the temples of Egypt
from time immemorial -- agreeably to tradition; and historically -- ever since the
day of King Cambyses, who personally saw them. . . . These figures were the
two Kabiri personifying the opposite poles. Herodotus (Thalia, No. 77) tells
posterity that when Cambyses entered the temple of the Kabirim, he went into an
inextinguishable fit of laughter, on perceiving what he thought a man erect and a
woman standing on the top of her head before him. These were the poles,
however, whose symbol was intended to commemorate 'the passing of the
original North Pole of the Earth to the South Pole of the Heaven,' as perceived by
Mackey.* [MA, 40-1] But they represented also the poles inverted, in
consequence of the great inclination of the axis, bringing each time as a result of
the displacement of the Oceans, the submersion of the polar lands, and the
consequent upheaval of new continents in the equatorial regions, and vice versâ.
These Kabirim were the 'Deluge' gods.
*Who adds that the Egyptians had various ways of representing the angles of
the Poles. Also in Perry's View of the Levant there is 'a figure representing the
South Pole of the Earth in the constellation of the Harp,' in which the poles
appear like two straight rods, surmounted with hawks' wings, but they were also
often represented as serpents with heads of hawks, one at each end. [MA, 41]

SD 2:362fn

It is a curious idea -- yet one not very far from the truth, perhaps -- that
speculation of Mackey, the self-made Adept of Norwich, found in his
'Mythological Astronomy.' He says that the Kabiri named Axieros and Axiokersa
derived their names (a) from Kab or Cab, a measure, and from Urim, the
heavens: the Kabirim being thus 'a measure of the heavens;' and (b) that their
distinctive names, implying the principle of generation, referred to the sexes. For,
'the word sex was formerly understood by aix; which has now settled . . . . into
sex.' And he refers to 'Encyclopaedia Londinus' at the word 'aspiration.' Now if
we give the aspirated sound to Axieros, it would be Saxieros; and the other pole
would be Saxiokersa. The two poles would thus become the generators of the
other powers of nature -- they would be the parents: therefore the most powerful
gods. [MA, 38-9]

SD 2:368
 Africa, as a continent, it is said, appeared before Europe did; nevertheless it
appeared later than Lemuria and even the earliest Atlantis. That the whole region
of what is now Egypt and the deserts was once upon a time covered with the
sea, was known firstly through Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, and all the Greeks; and,
secondly, through geology. Abyssinia was once upon a time an island; and the
Delta was the first country occupied by the pioneer emigrants who came with
their gods from the North-east.
When was it? History is silent upon the subject. Fortunately we have the
Dendera Zodiac, the planisphere on the ceiling of one of the oldest Egyptian
temples, which records the fact. This Zodiac, with its mysterious three Virgos
between the Lion and Libra, has found its Oedipus, who understood the riddle of
these signs, and justified the truthfulness of those priests who told Herodotus
that:-- (a) The poles of the Earth and the Ecliptic had formerly coincided; and (b)
That even since their first Zodiacal records were commenced, the Poles have
been three times within the plane of the Ecliptic, as the Initiates taught. [MA, 2, 4]

SD 2:406-8

Surely, if the Hindu Purânas give a description of wars on continents and

islands situated beyond Western Africa in the Atlantic Ocean; if their writers
speak of Barbaras and other people such as Arabs -- they who were never
known to navigate, or cross the Kala pani (the black waters of the Ocean) in the
days of Phoenician navigation -- then their Purânas must be older than those
Phoenicians (placed at from 2,000 to 3,000 years B.C.). At any rate those
traditions must have been older; as --
'In the above accounts,' writes an adept, 'the Hindus speak of this island as
existing and in great power; it must, therefore, have been more than eleven
thousand years ago.' [MA, Pt. 2, 70]
But another calculation and proof may be adduced of the great antiquity of
these Hindu Aryans who knew of (because they had once dwelt in it) and
described the last surviving island of Atlantis -- or rather of that remnant of the
Eastern portion of that continent which had perished soon after the upheaval of
the two Americas -- the two Varshas of Pushkara. This may be demonstrated,
moreover, on an astronomical calculation by an adept who criticises Wilford. For
re-calling what the Orientalist had brought forward concerning the Mount Ashburj
'at the foot of which the sun sets,' where was the war between the Devatas and
the Daityas, he says:--
'We will consider, then, the latitude and longitude of the lost island, and of the
remaining Mount Ashburj. It was on the seventh stage of the world, i.e., in the
seventh climate (which is between the latitude of 24 degrees and latitude 28
degrees north). . . This island, the daughter of the Ocean, is frequently described
as lying in the West; and the sun is represented as setting at the foot of its
mountain (Ashburj, Atlas, Teneriffe or Nila, no matter the name), and fighting the
white Devil of the "White Island." ' [MA, Pt. 2, 69] . . .
It was just remarked that since, in the Purânic accounts, the island is still
existing, then those accounts must be older than the 11,000 years elapsed since
Sancha dwipa, or the Poseidonis of Atlantis, disappeared. Is it not barely
possible that Hindus should have known the island still earlier? Let us turn again
to astronomical demonstrations, which make this quite plain if one assumes,
according to the said adept, that 'at the time when the summer tropical "colure"
passed through the Pleiades, when cor-Leonis [Regulus] would be upon the
equator; and when Leo was vertical to Ceylon at sunset, then would Taurus be
vertical to the island of Atlantis at noon.' [MA, Pt. 2, 70]
This explains, perhaps, why the Singhalese, the heirs of the Râkshasas and
Giants of Lanka, and the direct descendants of Singh, or Leo, became connected
with Sancha dwipa or Poseidonis (Plato's Atlantis). Only, as shown by Mackey's
'Sphinxiad,' this must have occurred about 23,000 years ago, astronomically; at
which time the obliquity of the ecliptic must have been rather more than 27
degrees, and consequently Taurus must have passed over 'Atlantis' or 'Sancha
dwipa.' And that it was so is clearly demonstrated. [MA, Pt. 2, 70]

SD 2:431-6

Among other arts and sciences, the ancients -- ay, as a heirloom from the
Atlanteans -- had those of astronomy and symbolism, which included the
knowledge of the Zodiac.
As already explained, the whole of antiquity believed, with good reason, that
humanity and its races are all intimately connected with the planets, and these
with Zodiacal signs. The whole world's History is recorded in the latter. In the
ancient temples of Egypt this was proved by the Dendera Zodiac; but except in
an Arabic work, the property of a Sufi, the writer has never met with a correct
copy of these marvellous records of the past, as also of the future, history of our
globe. Yet the original records exist, most undeniably.
As Europeans are unacquainted with the real Zodiacs of India, nor do they
understand those they happen to know (witness Bentley), the reader is advised,
in order to verify the statement, to turn to the work of Denon (Travels in Egypt,
Vol. II.) in which, if understood, the two famous Egyptian Zodiacs, can be found
and examined. Having seen them personally, the writer has no longer need to
trust to what other students -- who have examined and studied both very
carefully -- have to say of them. As asserted by the Egyptian Priests to
Herodotus, who was informed that the terrestrial Pole and the Pole of the Ecliptic
had formerly coincided, thus was it found and corroborated by Mackey.* [*'The
Mythological Astronomy of the Ancients Demonstrated' [p. 2] by a strangely
intuitional symbologist and astronomer, a kind of self-made adept of Norwich,
who lived in the first quarter of this century.] For he states that the Poles are
represented on the Zodiacs in both positions, 'And in that which shows the Poles
(polar axes) at right angles, there are marks which prove that 'it was not the last
time they were in that position; but the first -- after the Zodiacs had been traced.'
'Capricorn,' he adds, 'is represented at the North Pole, and Cancer is divided,
near its middle, at the South Pole; which is a confirmation that originally they had
their winter when the Sun was in Cancer; but the chief characteristics of its being
a monument commemorating the first time that the Pole had been in that
position, are the Lion and the Virgin.' [MA, 3] . . .
[S]ince the Dendera Zodiac shows the passage of three sidereal years, the
great Pyramid must have been built 78,000 years ago, or in any case . . . this
possibility deserves to be accepted at least as readily as the later date of 3,350
B.C.
Now on the Zodiac of a certain temple in far Northern India, as on the Dendera
Zodiac, the same characteristics of the signs are found. Those who know well the
Hindu symbols and constellations, will be able to find out by the description of the
Egyptian, whether the indications of the chronological time are correct or not. On
the Dendera Zodiac as preserved by the modern Egyptian Coptic and Greek
adepts, and explained a little differently by Mackey, the Lion stands upon the
Hydra and his tail is almost straight, pointing downwards at an angle of forty or
fifty degrees, this position agreeing with the original conformation of these
constellations. 'But in many places we see the Lion (Simha),' Mackey adds, 'with
his tail turned up over his back, and ending with a Serpent's head; thereby
showing that the Lion had been "inverted"; which, indeed, must have been the
case with the whole Zodiac and every other Constellation, when the Pole had
been inverted.' [MA, 3]
Speaking of the Circular Zodiac, given also by Denon, he says:-- There, 'the
Lion is standing on the Serpent, and his tail forming a curve downward, from
which it is found that though six or seven hundred thousand years must have
passed between the two positions, yet they had made but little difference in the
constellations of Leo and the Hydra; while Virgo is represented very differently in
the two. In the circular Zodiac, the Virgin is nursing her child; but it seems that
they had not had that idea when the pole was first within the plane of the Ecliptic;
for in this Zodiac, as given by Denon, we see three Virgins between the Lion and
the Scales, the last of which holds in her hand an ear of wheat. It is much to be
lamented that there is in this Zodiac a breach of the figure in the latter part of Leo
and the beginning of Virgo which has taken away one Decan out of each sign.'
[MA, 3-4] . . .
. . . The three 'Virgins,' or Virgo in three different positions, meant, with both,
the record of the first three 'divine or astronomical Dynasties,' who taught the
Third Root-Race; and after having abandoned the Atlanteans to their doom,
returned (or redescended, rather) during the third Sub-Race of the Fifth, in order
to reveal to saved humanity the mysteries of their birth-place -- the sidereal
Heavens. . . . In Mackey's 'Sphinxiad' the speculations of the bold author must
have horrified the orthodox portion of the population of Norwich, as he says,
fantastically enough:--
'But, after all, the greatest length of time recorded by those monuments (the
Labyrinth, the Pyramids and the Zodiacs) does not exceed five millions of years
(which is not so)*; which falls short of the records given us both by the (esoteric)
Chinese and Hindus; which latter nation has registered a knowledge of time for
seven or eight millions of years**; which I have seen upon a talisman of
porcelain. . . .' [MA, 6]
*The forefathers of the Aryan Brahmins had their Zodiacal constellations and
Zodiac from those born by Kriyasakti power, the 'Sons of Yoga'; the Egyptians
from the Atlanteans of Ruta.
**The former, therefore may have registered time for seven or eight millions of
years, but the Egyptians could not.

SD 2:768

[T]here must have been a good reason why an Asiatic nation should locate its
great progenitors and saints in the Ursa Major, a northern constellation. It is
70,000 YEARS, HOWEVER, SINCE THE POLE OF THE EARTH POINTED TO THE
FURTHER END OF URSA MINOR'S TAIL [MA, Pt. 2, 74]; and many more thousand
years since the seven Rishis could have been identified with the constellation of
Ursa Major.

See part 3, section 1, note 14.

SD 2:785-6

Astraea, the goddess of justice, is the last of the deities to forsake the earth,
when the gods are said to abandon it and be taken up into heaven by Jupiter
again. But, no sooner does Zeus carry away from earth Ganymedes (the object
of lust, personified) than the father of the gods throws down Astraea back on the
earth again, on which she falls upon her head. Astraea is Virgo, the constellation
of the Zodiac. Astronomically it has a very plain significance, and one which
gives the Key to the occult meaning. But it is inseparable from Leo, the sign that
precedes it, and from the Pleiades and their sisters, the Hyades, of which
Aldebaran is the brilliant leader. All of these are connected with the periodical
renovations of the earth, with regard to its continents -- even Ganymedes, who in
astronomy is Aquarius. It was already shown that while the South Pole is the pit
(or the infernal regions figuratively and cosmologically), the North Pole is
geographically the first continent; while astronomically and metaphorically the
celestial pole, with its pole star in heaven, is Meru, or the seat of Brahmâ, the
throne of Jupiter, etc. For in the age when the gods forsook the earth and were
said to ascend into heaven, the ecliptic had become parallel with the meridian,
and part of the Zodiac appeared to descend from the north pole to the north
horizon. Aldebaran was in conjunction then with the Sun, as it was 40,000 years
ago, at the great festival in commemoration of that Magnus Annus, of which
Plutarch was speaking. Since that year (40,000 years ago) there has been a
retrograde motion of the equator, and about 31,000 years ago Aldebaran was in
conjunction with the vernal equinoctial point. The part assigned to Taurus, even
in Christian mysticism, is too well known to need repetition. The famous Orphic
hymn on the great periodical cataclysm divulges the whole esotericism of the
event. Pluto (in the pit) carries off Eurydice, bitten by the (polar) serpent. Then
Leo, the lion, is vanquished. Now, when the Lion is in the pit, or below the south
pole, then Virgo, as the next sign, follows him, and when her head, down to the
waist, is below the South horizon -- she is inverted. On the other hand, the
Hyades are the rain or Deluge constellations; and Aldebaran (he who follows, or
succeeds the daughters of Atlas, or the Pleiades) looks down from the eye of
Taurus. It is from this point of the ecliptic that the calculations of the new cycle
were commenced. The student has to remember also, that when Ganymedes
(Aquarius) is raised to heaven (or above the horizon of the North Pole) Virgo or
Astraea, who is Venus-Lucifer, descends head downwards below the horizon of
the South Pole, or the pit; which pit, or the pole, is also the Great Dragon, or the
Flood. Let the student exercise his intuition by placing these facts together; no
more can be said. [MA, 43-8]

BCW 14:365-8
In an article entitled 'Secret Cycles', not published in her lifetime, Blavatsky refers
to Mackey as 'an unknown but very clever amateur Astronomer', and adds: 'His
theory about the Hindu Yugas and their length is curious -- as being so very near
the correct doctrine.' This is followed by a very lengthy quotation, extracts from
which are given below:

[In Hindu scientific books] we find the heavens and the earth divided into five
parts of unequal dimensions, by circles parallel to the equator. . . . [F]rom them
arose the division of their Mahâ-Yuga into its four component parts. Every
astronomer knows that there is a point in the heavens called the pole, round
which the whole seems to turn in twenty-four hours; and that at ninety degrees
from it they imagine a circle called the equator, which divides the heavens and
the earth into two equal parts, the north and the south. Between this circle and
the pole there is another imaginary circle called the circle of perpetual apparition:
between which and the equator there is a point in the heavens called the zenith,
through which let another imaginary circle pass, parallel to the other two; and
then there wants but the circle of perpetual occultation to complete the round. . . .
No astronomer of Europe besides myself has ever applied them to the
development of the Hindu mysterious numbers. [In the latitude of 36°N] the circle
of perpetual apparition would extend up to 72 degrees altitude, and from that to
the zenith there are but 18 degrees, but from the zenith to the equator in that
latitude there are 36 degrees, and from the equator to the circle of perpetual
occultation there are 54 degrees. Here we find the semi-circle of 180 degrees
divided into four parts, in the proportion of 1, 2, 3, 4, i.e., 18, 36, 54, 72. Whether
the Hindu astronomers were acquainted with the motion of the earth or not is of
no consequence, since the appearances are the same; and if it will give those
gentlemen of tender consciences any pleasure I am willing to admit that they
imagined the heavens rolled round the earth, but they had observed the stars in
the path of the sun to move forward through the equinoctial points, at the rate of
fifty-four seconds of a degree in a year, which carried the whole zodiac round in
24,000 years; in which time they also observed that the angle of obliquity varied,
so as to extend or contract the width of the tropics 4 degrees on each side, which
rate of motion would carry the tropics from the equator to the poles in 540,000
years; in which time the Zodiac would have made twenty-two and a half
revolutions . . . or what amounts to the same thing, the north pole of the ecliptic
would have moved from the north pole of the earth to the equator. . . . Thus the
poles become inverted in 1,080,000 years, which is their Mahâ-Yuga, and which
they had divided into four unequal parts, in the proportions of 1, 2, 3, 4, for the
reasons mentioned above; which are 108,000, 216,000, 324,000, and
432,000. . . .
[For the pole to return to its original position] must have taken 2,160,000 years:
and this is what the Hindus call the Prajanatha Yuga. . . .
Enough has been said to prove that the Hindu books of science are not
disgusting absurdities, originated in ignorance, vanity, and credulity; but books
containing the most profound knowledge of astronomy and geography. . . .

S.A. Mackey, 'Mythological' Astronomy of the Ancients Demonstrated,

Norwich, 1822/23 (Wizards Bookshelf, 1973)

Pages 2-6

Of the Antiquity of Egypt.

This Country, though now in the most degraded state, shews, by its
monuments, that, it must have once been the Mistress of the Universe -- as
Rome formerly was of Europe. And yet even here, I have never been able to
trace, by the monuments which have come within the compass of my knowledge,
a higher antiquity than about four millions and a half of years.
We are told by Herodotus, that, the CHOEN or men of learning in this country,
informed him, that, the Pole of the Earth and the Pole of the Ecliptic had formerly
coincided. I have seen, in Denon's second volume of Travels in Egypt, [p. 3] two
ancient Zodiacs, from a temple in Tentyra or Dendera, where the Poles have
been represented in both situations: and in that which shews the Poles at right
angles, there are marks which shew, that it was not the last time they were in that
position: but the first. Capricorn is, therein [i.e. in the rectangular zodiac],
represented at the North Pole; and Cancer is divided near its middle, at the
South Pole; which is a confirmation that, originally they had their winter when the
Sun was in Cancer. -- But the chief characteristics of its being a monument
commemorating the first time that the Pole had been in that position, are, the
Lion & the Virgin.
The Lion is, therein, drawn, standing upon the Hydra; and his tail is almost
straight, and pointing down in an angle of 40 or 50 degrees. Which position very
well agrees with the original formation of those Constellations. But, in many
places[*], we see the Lion with his tail turned up over his back, and ending with a
Serpent's head; thereby, shewing that the Lion had been inverted: which, indeed,
must have been the case with the whole Zodiac, and every other Constellation,
when the Pole had become inverted.
[*Note:
R.C. Leonard mentions the Arezzo Chimera of the Etruscans as an example
(Quest for Atlantis, Manor, 1979, pp. 220-1). This celebrated work in bronze,
discovered at Arezzo in 1534, has the body of a lion, a goat's head springing
from its back, and a serpent for a tail, though the latter is said to be a modern
restoration. The goat's head, pierced through the neck, is already dying, and the
rest of the creature is writhing in agony from this and another wound it has
received from the spear of Bellerophon
(http://www.bowdoin.edu/dept/library/classes/clas/305/index.html). One of the
two lions in the circular zodiac of Dendera also has its tail turned up over its
head, though the tail does not end with a serpent's head (see appendix 5, figure
1).]

The Chimera of Arezzo.

There is also, in Denon's second volume, a circular Zodiac, where the Lion is
standing on [p. 4] the Serpent, and his tail forming a curve downward: from
which we find, that, though six or seven hundred thousand years must have past
between the two positions, yet they had made but little or no difference in the
Constellations of Leo and the Hydra; while Virgo is represented very differently in
the two -- in the circular Zodiac, the Virgin is nursing her Child: but it seems that
they had not had that idea when the Pole was first within the plane of the Ecliptic;
for in this Zodiac [i.e. the rectangular zodiac], as given by Denon, we see three
Virgins between the Lion and the Scales; the last of which holds, in her hand, an
ear of wheat. It is much to be lamented, that, there is in this Zodiac, a breach of
the figures in the latter part of Leo and the beginning of Virgo, which have taken
away one Decan out of each sign.
There are three Monuments in this Country, which shew that the Poles have
been three times within the plane of the Ecliptic. These are the Labyranth, the
column called Cleopatra's Needle, and their Abraxes.

THE LABYRANTH
Has been described by various Authors, who agree, in stating, that, it was a
Building full of [p. 5] intricate windings and turnings; and containing between
three and four thousand little chambers. They likewise agree in stating that the
chambers were in rows, facing inwards to winding Allies, which went round the
Building, ascending and winding from the surface of the Earth; forming a spiral
line from the middle upwards; and descending and winding, forming a spiral line
from the middle downwards. Which is precisely the figure described by the North
and South Pole of the Earth, in passing from the Ecliptic, till they coincide with
the North and South Pole of the Heavens -- describing at once, the precession of
the Equinoxes, and the diminution of the angle of the Poles.
Who can, here, mistake the design of this, hitherto, mysterious Building? Other
nations have registered the rounds made by the Equinoctial points, and have
given us the same number; each, in a way peculiar to itself: but none has
imitated nature with so much simplicity as the people of Egypt.
But the Historians inform us that there were three Spiral Allies, and three tiers
of little chambers, which shew, that the Pole had repeated its ascent and descent
three times: and we find the [p. 6] Symbol of the sun (i.e. the Hawk) is placed
three times upon the top of Cleopatra's Needle. And we find the Bull there as
often: as if the Bull had been as often at the Pole. And if it be true that the Gem
called Abraxes, has marks about it which proves it to have been three times
repeated, then, their Abraxes proves, that, the Bull had been three times at the
Pole: for its name means THE BULL AT THE POLE; and is compounded of ABIR
the Bull, and Axis the Pole. . . .
But, after all, the greatest length of time recorded by those monuments does
not exceed five millions of years: which falls short of the records given us both by
the Chinese and Hindoos: which latter nation has registered a knowledge of time
for seven or eight millions of years: which I have seen upon a Talisman of
Porcelain, which is now in this city.

Pages 38-9

21. AXIEROS &c. -- These were the distinctive appellations given by the
ancients to the two poles, which were called, conjointly, the Cabirim: by which,
was understood powerful gods . . .
They are called the most powerful of all the gods. But let us see in what that
power consists. Their name of Cabirim, is the measure of the heavens: it is
compounded of Cab, a measure; and Irim or Urim the heavens; thus Cabirim is
the measure of the heavens.
It is said they are the most powerful of the gods. [p. 39] Their distinctive
names imply principle of generation: for, what we now understand by the word
sex, was formerly understood by ax; which by being spoken with vehemence,
has, in our time, settled into sex. (see Encyclo. Londinen at the word aspiration.)
Now, if we give the aspirated sound to Axieros, it would become sax, or
Sexieros; and the other pole would be Sexikersa. The two poles would thus
become the generators of the other powers of nature -- they would be the
parents of the other powers; therefore, the most powerful.
But independent of these derivations, do we not know that the pole of the
heavens, generates the seasons according to the angle with which he penetrates
the centre of the earth, -- when parallel, we have constant spring; but when he
penetrates through the equator; the ravages of the elements, must be dreadful!
Pages 40-1

Herodotus, in his Thalia, number 77 records, that, when CAMBYSES entered the
Temple of the Cabirim in Egypt, he derided the indecent appearance of the
personified poles. Indeed I do not see how any man could refrain from laughing,
beholding a man, in an erect position, accompanied by a woman whose position
was inverted, and surrounded by attributes of the most [p. 41] whimsical and
fantastical kinds. Seeing the woman's head by the feet of the man, Cambyses did
not know that it was intended to commemorate the passing of the original North
Pole of the Earth, to the South Pole of the Heavens! But the Egyptians had
various ways of representing the angle of the Poles. In 'Perry's View of the
Levant' there is a figure representing the South Pole of the earth in the
constellation of the Harp. In which the poles appear like two straight rods,
surmounted with hawks wings to distinguish the north from the south. But the
symbols of the poles, which modern folly has denominated powerful Gods are,
sometimes, in the form of serpents, with the heads of hawks to distinguish the
north from the south end.

Page 42

Eusebius informs us also, that the Egyptians represented the universe by a

sky-coloured and fiery circle, with a serpent having the head of a hawk, reaching
from side to side, something like the Grecian theta; or like the diametre to the
circle. Here we see the pole of the earth within the plane of the ecliptic, attended
with all the fiery consequences that must arise from such a state of the heavens:
when the whole Zodiac, in 25,000 years, must have 'redden'd with the solar
blaze;' and each sign must have been vertical to the polar regions.
This great truth cannot be ascertained with too much certainty: for it will give
us the master key to the ancient mysteries . . .

Pages 43-8

We are told that the Gods forsook the earth -- and that Justice or Astrea was
the last of all the celestial train that was taken up into heaven. And when Jove
took Ganimede up into heaven, then Astrea was thrown down and fell head
foremost upon the earth! . . .
[p. 44] The stories of the Pagans concerning the ascension of their gods into
heaven, and their descent into hell, have produced, in the minds of modern
Europeans the most absurd notions, -- notions that never entered the minds of
the first Astronomers, who divided the heavens into three grand divisions, in the
most simple manner imaginable: they observed, towards the north, that a certain
circuit in the heavens always appeared above the horizon; this they denominated
one great empire; and as there is a point in the middle of it which is always
stationary, this they made the seat of Empire, and subjected it to the government
of a Monarch, who could from his throne, i.e. the Pole, behold all the nations of
the earth, both by night and by day.
 They could not but be sensible of that part of the vast concave that is for ever
hid from our sight, surrounding the south pole; this was distinguished as another
grand division of the flame besprinkled concave, and called the PIT in contra-
distinction from the opposite, which was called the MOUNTAIN. Hence, among the
ancients, arose the epithets of HELION and ACHERON, which meant nearly the
same; as Heli-on is the Sun in his highest: which the Greeks pronounce Heli-os --
i.e. Elios, the most high. Acheron, is [p. 45] generally translated Hell. It is
compounded of Achari, i.e. the last state or condition; and On, the Sun, Achar-
on, signify the last state, or condition of the sun: alluding to his annual
disappearance in those constellations which were in the neighbourhood of the
south pole. I have seen, in Denon's 2nd vol. a zodiac with a Crab at the south
pole; but the time of the greatest splendour of the Egyptians, was about 2000
years before that time; when Leo must have been there. The celebrated Orphic
hymns are made to deplore the loss of Euridice in the regions below. Euridice is
generally understood to be the wife of the ancient poet -- 'twas the theme of
which he wrote -- 'Twas his Muse &c. But let us see for whom or for what this
imaginary Poet of the ancients lamented, while Pluto held the object of his delight
in his bottomless abyss. It was for Ari-dacah, i.e. the poor Lion -- the vanquished
Lion. The Greeks, who could not pronounce the Phenician term Aridaca,
softened it into Euridice, and said that it was the Poet's Wife, that had gone down
into the regions of misery. The Jews, however, whose language is similar to that
of the Phenicians, inform us that Benaiah, i.e. the Son of God, slew a Lion in the
midst of a pit in the time of snow! Now, when the Lion was in the Pit, i.e. at the
south [p. 46] pole; then, as Virgo is the next sign, her head and shoulders must
have been lost below the south horizon: meanwhile Aquarius, with his pitcher of
water, was at the north pole. This was Ganimede the cup-bearer of Jove, who
was taken up into heaven when the celestial virgin was thrown head fore-most
upon the earth!!!
Thus, we see, that, the precession of the equinoctial points, mov'd, when the
pole of the earth was in the plane of the ecliptic, just as they do in our time! And
that, while one sign was sinking into the bottomless pit another sign was
ascending into heaven, i.e. rising up towards the pole.
As the people on the earth are insensible of the motion of the earth, they
thought that the pole of heaven revolved round the pole of the earth. And if we
assume a time when the poles were parallel: the pole of heaven, in eight times
25,000 years, would seem to have described a pericyclosical figure round the
pole of the earth like a serpent coiled eight times; and as each volve is four
degrees asunder, the figure of the serpent described by the pole of heaven round
the pole of the earth in 200,000 years would sweep a circle, the diameter of
which would be 64 degrees [p. 47] i.e. 32 deg. above the pole, and 32 below it:
and would be found to touch the northern horizon in the latitude of 32 degrees. In
that age, at noon, the ecliptic would be parallel with the meridian, and part of the
Zodiac would descend from the north pole to the north hoziron; crossing the eight
coils of the serpent, which would seem like an imaginary ladder with eight staves
reaching from the earth up to the pole, i.e. the throne of Jove! Up this ladder
then, the Gods, i.e. the signs of the zodiac, ascended and descended! The
Hebrew Historians relate that one of their Patriarchs saw a ladder which reached
from earth to heaven, on which he saw some non-descript beings called Angels
ascending and descending. It is more than 400,000 years since the Zodiac
formed the sides of this ladder. Could the Pagans borrow this notion from the
Jews: or did the Jews receive some feint traces of antiquity from their masters?
22. ALDEBARAN. -- The names given to this brilliant star shew the uses to
which it was applied by the ancients in all parts of the world. Its name of
Aldebaran, signify rule or guide. It was called by the Latins Palilitium, which
signifies the rule of festivals; from pha, the mouth, i.e. proclaiming, and lilia or
liloth, festivals. This [p. 48] star was in conjunction with the sun 40,000 years
ago, when, they held their grand autumnal festival; from which circumstance, it is
very likely to have been so called from the first; before they had observed the
retrograde motion of the equator. But, after a run of about eight or nine thousand
years, it was found to be in conjunction with the vernal equinoctial point. This
seems to have produced a new aera in astronomy; as it is a well known fact that,
the Celestial Bull is highly venerated in China, in Hindoostan, and various other
parts of the world, as well as in Egypt. This bright star, so venerated by the
ancients, was, from its name of guide or leader, a point in the Ecliptic from which
they measured the longitude of the equator, and regulated their time: and when
the equator had gone through all the parts of the Zodiac, they began a new
reckoning -- a new series of 1, 2, 3, &c.; 'till having counted another round of 25,
or, 26 thousands of years, began again with 1, 2, 3, &c. of the third round: and so
on. As a proof of their reckoning from the conjunction of the equator with
Aldebaran, I shall mention two facts from the histories of China and Babylon;
which are well known to all the learned in Europe. . . .

Appendix, page 23

It is not to be expected that I can be able to decypher all the historical traits
which may be registered upon these ten Avatars, that may regard their national
concerns; -- their peace; their wars; their national refinements, &c.; that may
have happened in each Avatar, or round of the Zodiac; but it will be a great point
gained to science, to shew that, 'These poor benighted Hindoos' have registered
a knowledge of Astronomy for ten times 25,000 years since the Flood, or Age of
horror in the latitude of Banares.

Appendix, pages 25-6

Now, we have seen, that the tropics would recede from the pole four degrees
in each revolution from the equinoctial points; from which we know, that in ten
revolutions they would be removed forty degrees. But 40 and 25 are 65. Thus
then at the end of ten Avatars, or rounds of the equinoctial points, the tropic
would be vertical at Benares! -- The tropic would be but twenty five degrees from
the equator! And as we know in our time, that the tropic is but twenty-three
degrees and something less than half a degree from the equator; it has still to
move two degrees and nearly half before the formation of another round or
Avatar, or age; which take about 16,000 years to perform. And as we know that
about 9,000 years have elapsed since the tropic was vertical at Benares, so we
know that the TEN AVATARS bring down the knowledge of Astronomy to that
period.

Part 2 (The Key of Urania), pages 23-4

Christian Theologians think it their duty to write against the long periods of
Hindu Chronology; and in them it may be pardonable: but when a man of
learning crucify the names and the numbers, of the ancients; and wring and twist
them into a form, which means something quite foreign to the intentions of the
ancient authors; but which, so mutilated, fits in with the birth of some maggot pre-
existing in his own brain with so much exactness, that he pretends to be amazed
at the discovery, I cannot think him quite so pardonable.

Part 2, pages 69-70

But we will take our leave of the Daityas, or demons of the White Island,
whose king was Neptune, called by the Hindus SANC'HASURA, from sanc'ha, a
sea shell: and let them remain quietly in the ocean, while we consider the latitude
and longitude of the lost island, and of the remaining Mount Az-burj. It was on the
seventh stage of the world, i.e. in the seventh CLIMATE or MEASURE OF HEAT,
which is between the latitude of 24 degs. and latitude 28 degs. north, and this
White Island, which is called, also, Adbhi'-tanaya, or daughter of the ocean, is
frequently described as lying in the west; and the sun is represented as < Mount
of foot the at>to fight (scorch with his vertical beams) the White Devil or White
Island. From these expressions, which are very poetical, we shall be able to
ascertain the longitude of this White Island of the Hindu historians, which will be
found to be in that place where Plato had placed the ATLANTIS.
[p. 70] In the above accounts the Hindus speak of this island as existing, and
in great power; it must therefore, have been more than eleven thousand years
ago: and if we assume that time when the summer tropical colure passed
through the pleiades then would Cor Leonis be upon the equator; and when Leo
was vertical at the island of Ceylon at sunset. Then would Taurus be vertical at
the island of Atlantis at noon. And we are informed in the A.R. [Asiatic
Researches] that Ceylon was so called from singha, a Lion! And in 9th vol. p. 78,
that the Ox Nandi resided in the White island! These are very remarkable
occurrences which must have happened about 23,000 years ago: at which time
the obliquity of the ecliptic must have been rather more than 27 degrees: and
consequently Taurus must have passed over ATALA or ATALANTA.

Part 2, page 74

In one place in the A.R. it is supposed that the seven stars in Ursa-major were
the seven rishas [rishis]. It is a long while since they were the seven steps on
Meru: and it is still longer since they extended from LANCA to DELHI.
 Men should be careful how they endeavour to support false systems. It is
70,000 years since the pole of the earth pointed to the tip of Ursa-major's tail!

Additional passages on the Dendera zodiacs

Mythological Astronomy

Part 2, page 134fn

In the CIRCULAR and OBLONG ZODIACS from the Temple of Tentyra or Dendera,
we see the constellation of Aquarius represented by whole-length human figures
pouring down the contents of inverted BOTTLES. In the oblong Zodiac the first
Decanate has a man standing on the back of a Swan, -- symbol of snow; in the
third the symbol's head is decorated with flowing feathers, which seem to indicate
that the downfall from its INVERTED BOTTLES is snow.

Part 2, pages 139-41

In the oblong zodiac of Tentyra, each of the twelve signs is divided into three
parts of ten degrees, and each part is represented by a human figure (with
attributes expressive of his functions) called a Decan; and as each sign of the
zodiac has three of these, the first of each was called a powerful leader of three.
To this company of thirty-six decans they attributed the management of the
seasons. These were the powers whose functions were more durable than those
of the twelve Zodiacal Constellations which are still found to alter their position
every 2,000 years, relative to the seasons; and to move, in that time, through a
space of thirty degrees from the equinoctial points. Not so the more powerful and
constant gods called the Decans, or Eloim; those of that rank which are fixed at
the equator are still supposed to compel the sun to shine twelve hours a day all
the world over; and those at the opposite parts of the equator constantly prepel
the sun the same way through their dominions; i.e. those at the spring node will
not suffer the sun to pass out of their palace the same way by which he entered;
but order him to move on to the sign more northward. This is known to be the
constant order of the sun, moon, and planets; which must continue till the
CABIRI, the MOST powerful of all the gods, shall unite; and then the functions of
the Decans are at an end; and one unbounded spring shall govern all; until A
POWER MORE powerful than the Cabiri, shall cause the poles again to separate;
when the seasons will again return, and the Decans again take their stations: but
now, observe, all topsy-turvy turned! and what before was north, the northern
pole forsakes! The Lion now, which trod beneath his feet the hydra Nile, is
decorated with a hydra tail, that casts his venom over the Lion's Back!!! And now
the Decan-trio of the wintry sign, when ever the Lion comes within their reach,
decoy the sprawling monster backwards down; but by such slow degrees, that in
twelve visits, seen from Delhi's plain, he still is free from Swayambhuva's den.
But steady to their dreadful word of woe, when the great twelve have ten more
circling revolutions run, hell's central Pivot strikes the Lion's heart.

Part 2, pages 156-7

I cannot conclude my remarks on the Noachidae, or people who inhabit

extensive plains in the age of horror, without observing the necessity of taking
into their arched flotillas some of their most useful cattle, which must otherwise
have perished: this we are certain of without a revelation! and in the oblong
zodiac of Tentyra, where we find cancer at the south pole; and the divisions of
Gemini crowded with seven persons all busily employed in arranging matters of
some serious importance, previous to their getting into winter quarters, we find,
also, in the last decanate but one, to the south pole, there is actually an OX
placed in a BOAT: this is not the constellation of Taurus, for that is on the other
side of Gemini, where we see him with a circle on his neck which informs us that
there was a full moon in the last decanate.

The figure of an ox (or cow) in a boat with six stars above it, to which Mackey
refers, is similar to the figure of a cow in a boat with a star between her horns in
the circular zodiac. The latter figure is generally considered to represent Sirius.
(See Appendix 5, figure 4, no. 54, and figure 3, no. 43.)

Part 2, pages 168-9

Abram, which was the original name of Abraham is precisely the Brama of the
Hindoos: it seems that this people had a way of placing the as, of foreign words
last in order, as in this word Abram; by transposing the a, it becomes brama;
again, when India was conquered by the King of Egypt, they called him BRAMA
Gypta: here we see the a transposed; which seem to shew that they were fond of
an a terminal: but whether the meaning of the name remained the same I am not
certain: we know, however, Brama was their grand name for the Deity, we know,
also, that they held the Bull in high veneration, but whether there was any
connexion in their minds with the Bull and Brama, I am not certain; but we know
that ABIR signifies the BULL; which the Greeks corrupted into Apis: both names,
however, are compounds, and are applicable to the Bull, in consequence of his
being the most distinguished constellation in the zodiac, and of his being used in
ploughing the ground; which last employment procured him the epithet of Apis or
Ab-is -- AB-ISIS, contracted: Isis with the ear of corn is the symbol of harvest, and
as the bull ploughed the ground, he was the figurative father of harvest i.e. Abis
from AB, father; and ISIS, harvest. In the circular and oblong zodiacs from Tentyra
(both of which may be seen in DENON's Travels in Egypt) the bull is the most
distinguished of all the animals, in the solar round, he was, therefore the FATHER
of the FIRES, i.e. he was Ab-irim. The bright star in that constellation, is the most
brilliant of all the stars or fires in the zodiac, it was the FATHER FIRE, i.e. it was AB-
IR and this etymology is confirmed by the arabic name of that bright star, which is
Al-de-'bir-AN, i.e. the-great-father of fires. The city of ABBIRopolis in Goshen, and
ABARis in Hindoostan were so called from the abundance of cattle.

The Two Zodiacs of Tentyra, and the Zodiac of Thebes, Norwich, 1832

pages 2-3

In speaking of the origin of the Zodiac; Mr. Goodacre observed, that modern
Astronomers were satisfied that the antiquity of the Zodiac was not more than
2,200, or 2,400 years at the most; and beginning at Aries, he said the ram was
placed in the zodiac, in the month of April, because in that month the lambs were
produced. In May, a bull was placed in the zodiac, because in that month the
cows brought forth their calves; and then, proceeding to the month of June,
(fearing we may suppose, to offend the ladies) he turned the two boys into two
kids, saying, that in the ancient zodiacs, the Gemini were represented by two
kids, because in the month of June the goats brought forth their kids. Having
filled one quarter of the zodiac, he paused before he set out for the hot month of
July. In the meanwhile a man in the gallery [Mackey] asked Mr. G. if he would
have the goodness to state in what zodiac those kids were to be found. He, (Mr.
G.) said in the zodiac of Dendera (Tantyra). The man replied, there are two, but
there are no kids in either of them. Have you seen them said Mr. G. -- seen them!
said the man in the gallery, yes, sir, and many other men in Norwich; we are
quite familiar here, with these precious gems of ancient science, and we know
that there are no kids in either of them. A long painful silence ensued, and the
man in the gallery exclaimed, -- you see, sir, that the people of Norwich are not
quite so ignorant as you may suppose them to be. Mr. G. said the interruption
was ungenteel, and hoped he might be allowed to think himself quite exonerated
from any further reply, and so he went on with the next three signs, which ended
with Virgo, as the month of harvest in Egypt, the month of September.
In what estimation can this man be held by those who know that the harvest
month in Egypt is in the month of March, i.e. in that part round about Tentyra.
Now had Mr. G. allowed the ram to have been originally an autumnal sign, he
would have found the virgin, with her spike of corn, (symbol of harvest) with the
sun in March, the harvest month in that country. But this great truth would have
embarrassed Mr. G. who had before stated that Seth, the grandson of Adam was
the first astronomer. If his Seth had known the ram as an autumnal sign, he must
have lived fifteen thousand years ago.

pages 9-10

We are assured by well authenticated documents, that, Cambyses, king of

Persia, who lived 2,356 years ago, conquered Egypt and Ethiopia, and murdered
all the men of learning that could not escape. Hence, the origin of scientific
wanderers called gypsies.
As the history of science was . . . written [in the Dendera zodiacs], in a
character which was known to none but those venerable men who were
exterminated, all its fine shades have disappeared, but the grand outline is
indestructible. -- Those men, however, who are desirous of not being deceived,
must be careful in their choice of books; for, already there are works in print
containing corrupted zodiacs of Dendera (Tantyra) in which all the marks of their
antiquity are carefully omitted.
In the time of Cambyses, Aries was a vernal equinoctial constellation, and the
Crab coincided with the summer tropic; but in the zodiac A [the oblong zodiac],
the winter solstitial colure divides the Crab near its middle, and the Ram must of
necessity be an autumnal sign, and if we allow 25,600 years in that time for one
round of the equinoctial points, half that sum 12,800, which being added to the
time since Cambyses, will give 16,156 years at least, since the Crab was posited,
as in the long zodiac of Tantyra, which I shall demonstrate so clearly that all who
know the summer noontide sun is higher than that of winter, and that our heads
are above our feet, shall be satisfied that cancer in the long zodiac of Dendra, is
a winter sign.

pages 15-21

The Oblong Zodiac of Tantyra explained.

Every body knows that the summer sun rises higher at noon than the winter
sun does. When the sun has acquired its greatest altitude in Summer, we say it
is Midsummer, and the sun turns back again; that point then is called the
Summer Tropic, the upper or highest part of the zodiac, -- the top part, and when
the sun has descended to his lowly place in midwinter, from that point he turns
back, and that point is termed the lower tropic, the bottom of the zodiac.
Upon our globes, at this time, the constellation of Gemini is the highest point of
the zodiac, and Sagittarius at the bottom; but in the time of Cambyses, the crab
was at the top, and capricorn at the bottom, and as the progressive motion of the
zodiac makes an entire revolution in about 25,000 years, in that time all the
constellations will have been at the top in summer, and all, at the bottom in
winter; therefore when we see a celestial globe, we can ascertain its antiquity by
the position of the zodiac.
But the zodiac of Tantyra is not placed upon a globe: how then, are we to
ascertain its top from its bottom? In Dr. Jamieson's Celestial Atlas, is given what
is there called, the Zodiac of Dendera; but in that there is not the least mark of its
antiquity retained: the crab is put all on one side, and the goat is transplanted to
the contrary side to the correct plate of Denon.
Other authors have given the same corrupted and mutilated engravings, said
to be the zodiacs of Tentyra. For what purpose is all this cutting and slaying?
Does the malignant spirit of Cambyses still haunt the science of those whom he
murdered? Vain attempt! since the labours of DENON have met a kindred spirit to
their own. . . .
Here [in the oblong zodiac] we have the 12 constellations in two strait parallel
bands, placed between two female figures embracing the whole; here is a pole
with a knob at one end, indicative of the top; but to prevent doubt, the knob is
placed touching the mouth of the female, and no one can suppose for a moment
that the mouth in the head, was intended to represent the bottom of the zodiac;--
here then at the top of this zodiac we find the goat, and at the bottom, at the feet
of the figure we find the crab divided near its middle. Here then, in this celebrated
zodiac, we have the most satisfactory evidence, that the crab was formerly a
winter constellation, and the goat, at the top, a summer constellation; and this
was the first cause of the stars in that part of the zodiac being called the goat -- it
was at the top of the zodiac -- the top of the hill; which is the delight of the goat. It
was the 'high station' of the sun, from which he looked down with a smile upon
the earth in all his glory; as a son of Crispin from his high station, might look
down upon Mr. Goodacre. Every body knows that the sun in descending from the
Summer to the Winter, passes over the equator in the Autumn; and here we find
the Summer sun, quitting his high station in the Goat, to arrive at his cellar in the
Crab, has to pass over the equator in Autumn in the constellation of the Ram.
The Ram then was an autumnal sign. How could Mr. Goodacre have the
impudence to stand before an audience in this city, and assert such palpable
falsehoods in the science of astronomy as he did. But he did do it. He said the
zodiac of Dendera did not show an antiquity of more than 2,200 or 2,400 years at
the most: but here is the zodiac itself, proclaiming an antiquity of 16,000 years at
least, and he said, also, that in the zodiac of Dendera, the space now filled by the
twins, was occupied by two kids. But here are no kids; here we see a group of
three men and women, whose attitudes seem to express, an agreement with a
fourth woman on terms of accommodation on board her husband's boat. Well
may the Cambysesians of the present day send into the world spurious zodiacs
of Dendera. Do they fear that the materials of Noah and his family should be
recognised in this division which Mr. Goodacre said contained two kids?
Having shown that the Ram was formerly an autumnal constellation, and that
about 15 degrees of cancer was touched by the wintry tropic, I shall now proceed
to notice a few things expressed on this zodiac, for which, (to use the words of
Denon), I think, I shall deserve well of the learned in Europe.
We see in this plate [the oblong zodiac] one large wing on the pole, which is in
the plane of the zodiac. What can that allude to? According to Eratosthenes, who
was in Babylon in the time of Alexander the Great, Berosus, the Babylonian
Historian, informed him that 403,000 years before that time, the pole of the earth
was within the plane of the ecliptic. Here we have the testimony of another great
nation, that the pole of the earth was once within [the] plane of the ecliptic. Well
might the detestable monster of Persia [Cambyses] desire to destroy the sacred
tower of Babel, -- the only monument in that country, that commemorated the
spiral motion of the pole. But let us contemplate the pole in the plate before us --
the pole with one wing. The pole of the earth describes a spiral figure among the
stars. Why did the sages of Egypt represent the pole with only one wing? I know
of no animal in nature with one wing only. But when I was a boy, at Walton, near
Languard Fort, we used to have our Winters so severe that the shop tub used to
be frozen up: then the men sallied out with long fowling pieces, to shoot the wild
fowl that came over our heads in vast numbers:-- these were wounded in every
possible way, but when one has had one of its wings broken, it described in its
descent, by the use of the other wing alone, a figure in the air similar to that
described among the stars by the pole of the earth!!! This one-winged pole is not
in the spurious zodiacs, nor are the 37 [38] little boats, which I shall now notice.
What can these 37 little Boats have done, that they are not to be tossed about
upon the billows of time? -- these thirty-eight little boat-like divisions of the year,
contain thirty-eight inmates, the greatest half of which holds in his hand an
augurial staff, as a predictor of the weather, or perhaps other events.
In the Encyclopaedia Londonensis, at the word Egypt, are given the two above
zodiacs coloured; in the long one there are but thirty-one boats, and about one-
third of a boat. Perhaps the number is of no importance, for I know of no
astronomical division of the year into 38 or 31 parts.
In the breach of the ceiling between Leo and Virgo, there is in Denon's zodiac,
a space of two boats, but in the Ecyclopaedia Londinensis, the breach occupies
but the space of one boat, -- these differences ought not to exist, even if the
things are of no importance.
In the ancient history of Egypt, the City of Thebes is represented as containing
the whole population of the Country round about it during the Winter, and in the
inundation in the Summer; to which place the mode of travelling might be by way
of the Nile; this would explain the busy group in the zodiac between the full moon
in Taurus and the Beetle, or Cancer, -- they were about to depart for Thebes,
there to remain till the end of winter, in one instance, and the retiring of the water
in the other; at which time the people would issue from their retreat to their
various occupations on the land. -- This going into, and coming out of Thebes
annually, looks very like the story of the Flood and the Ark.
If the long zodiac A, exhibits an antiquity of more than 400,000 years, the
circular one displays an antiquity of at least 540,000 years beyond that: for here
we find the zodiac in the plane of the equator; in which state there would be
universal Spring, and the year must then, have been sidereal, as a consequence
of the great difficulty of being sensible of the true tropical year. -- When our
calendar was altered, ten days were left out: but in this calendar, zodiac, or
planisphere, we find two months left out -- Leo following Taurus. We find also in
the scales, the signs of Leo and Aquarius; which shews that in that remote time
they noticed the precession of the equinoctial points. We find also, that Virgo is
intermixed with Leo, and the first of the three virgins has her child on her lap; the
idea therefore, of the sun re-appearing in, or being born of the virgin, is of a still
more remote antiquity. And as the zodiac and equator coincide, the pole of the
earth and the pole of the ecliptic must also coincide; and here we find the present
southern celestial hemisphere coinciding with the northern hemisphere of the
earth, and Boötes, to the north of the virgin, is here placed with his corn-cutting
implement in his hand, on the south side of the equator.
And Sirius, Lepus, and Formalhaut are on the south side of the ecliptic, but
here we find all of them on the north side of the equator. The whole of which, are
convincing proofs that the pole of the earth has been in the plane of the ecliptic,
and in the plane of its axis. And there are figures in the same temple which shew
a repetition of each state of the pole three times.

pages 25-6
[T]he Rev. Michael Russell . . . states, that the visit of Denon in the temple [of
Dendera], was too short to allow him to be very correct in his delineations of the
numerous figures, and that he has not given all the stars; that many of the figures
are painted of the wrong colour; and that the two female figures (which surround
the long zodiac) have nothing of the Egyptian features in them -- they are mere
childish faces, &c. Now I have shown that all this quibbling has not altered the
antiquity of the whole, for thought the faces of the two female figures were the
faces of infants, they are placed on their heads, and their heads are upon their
shoulders, which are united by a long close dress to their well-formed feet;
pointing out, as clearly as the most exact likenesses can point out the top of the
zodiac from the bottom, or the summer from the winter; and of course spring from
autumn. In which last we find the Ram -- i.e. the Ram was an autumnal sign. And
as the Goat is at the top, the Goat was a summer sign. And the Crab, or
Scarabeüs, at the feet, was then a winter sign.
According to Manilius, the Crab was painted on the globes of the ancients of a
black colour, and without eyes (the sockets being empty). How expressive of
winter!!! But Jesuitical writers take no notice of these characteristic beauties.

The Original Design of the Ancient Zodiacal and Extra-Zodiacal

Constellations, Norwich, 1834

pages 8-9

Cuviere has said much about the Zodiacs of Dendera; but what is it all, but
jargon. What is all his string of quidities but a collection of sophisms to draw the
mind from this plain simple truth, that the Goat is a Summer sign, and the winter
Solstice is in Cancer. He also quibbles about the unequal divisions of the signs.
But the whole twelve make the round, through which the Equator passes in
26,000 years nearly in our time. The unequal division of the two halves, require a
serious attention. Its cause escaped me at the time of writing the Treatise on the
Zodiacs of Dendera and Thebes. . . . It is well known in our time, that the summer
half of our year is longer than the winter half by eight days. This is a
consequence of the Earth being nearer the Sun in winter than in summer. . . .
But the eccentricity of the Earth's Orbit is observed to be constantly
diminishing; therefore, in taking a retrospective view of Time, the eccentricity
must have been greater; and consequently, the difference between the nearer
half year and the remote half year must formerly have been more than eight
days. And as the perihelion point moves through the Ecliptic in something more
than twenty thousand years, it must be vertical to different parts of the Earth. And
when over the Equator, in Autumn, the autumnal half year would be shorter than
the Spring half, or in other words, from midsummer to midwinter, the Earth would
require less time than from midwinter to midsummer. Now if we examine the long
Zodiac of Dendera, it will be seen why all the Goat and half the Crab with the five
signs between, are on one side; while on the other side there are but five signs
and a half: hence there must have been, at that time, more than eight days
difference between the two half years. The cause of all which is so clearly
pointed out by the two Decans in the Ram seated on flames and pointing their
fingers to their mouth, expressive of thirst, that no man of science can doubt that,
at that time, the place of the perihelion point was in the autumnal Ram. I say, and
repeat it, the autumnal Ram. For were we to consider the Sun returning from the
winter to the Ram, there could not have been that heat and thirst experienced in
Spring especially in the beginning of Spring, as to warrant the two expressive
Decans in Aries.
Cuviere has strung together a few Sophisms about the circular Planisphere, in
order to render it perplexing, by supposing the Colure may be here, or it may be
there, or, or, or, &c. but he has not displayed the least appearance of knowing,
that in a Planisphere where the Equator and Ecliptic coincide, there is no
Solsticial point; for all the year is Spring.

pages 21-2

The ninth month, or March, was [the Egyptian] harvest month this they very
properly represented by a virgin with a ripe ear of Corn in her hand, called Spica;
whilst upon the, then meridian, they placed the harvest man Bootes, with a Sickle
in his hand, which touches the tail of the Bear, near a small Star called mizar
which Dr. Jamieson, in his celestial Atlas, says, means the reaping hook.
This virgin is thrice repeated in the long Zodiac of Dendera, one of which holds
up a wheat-ear between Leo and the Balance or Scales, in the circular
Planisphere there are three virgins, which represent the three Decans, into which
each sign of the Zodiac was divided. But, here, the first virgin is represented with
a Child on her knee; which proves that the story of the virgin and her child, was
known to the Egyptians more than a Million of years back.

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